Proposed settlement reached in Washington landslide suit

SEATTLE (AP) — The attorneys representing the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state of Washington over a deadly 2014 landslide have announced a proposed $50 million settlement on the eve of a trial.

The Seattle Times reports the tentative pact was reached Sunday, and still must be approved by Judge Roger Rogoff, who has presided over the litigation.

The lawsuit was filed by survivors and family members of the 43 people who died in the March 22, 2014, landslide that raced across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish and into the Steelhead Haven community.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys allege that a crib wall fence built on state property retained loose soils and increased the ability of the leading edge of the landslide to move the way it did as it swept through the neighborhood.

The newspaper (http://bit.ly/2dErgow ) says a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office could not be reached for comment.